[Happy] Previously...
Nick Sax, NYPD... ish. I'm trying to locate a man. Looks like Santa Claus.
-This password. -I'm the only one who...
-Knows it... -Which is why...
You got to get dead.
-You're trying to kill me! -We're gonna kill you!
-What do you want? -[Blue] You know. How is your ma?
-She been taking her medication? -I've got a whole new way into Nick Sax.
You have an enemy in your house. This is the one who killed your three sons.
Three? There's four.
[Assunta] Mikey is not with them.
[Mr. Bug] Your guy, Mr. Ho-Ho-Ho...
[Blue] He's under orders to stay with the children.
-Smoothie. -[Blue] Bug's upset.
I need you to do a scrub down.
This is it, Nick! The dark room!
[Hailey] Happy and my dad are coming. They're going to save us.
How will they find us now?
-What are you doing here? -Working a case.
-This ain't homicide! -It's a favor for a friend.
For Amanda.
Bullshit! She hates your guts.
-She'd never come to you. -She does hate my guts
and for all the right reasons, but she loves her daughter. She loves Hailey.
[Sax breathes heavily]
-Why didn't she come to me? -She tried.
Let's go, Sax. We can work the case... together.
Just like old times.
Well, well, well, you had me right up to old times. Let's try this again.
What's your angle?
[gun clicks]
[sighs] Mer, so predictable.
You got to go see Blue, Nick.
He's really got you by the short and curlies.
Ow.
[squelching]
[grunts]
Happy, let's split.
[Happy sobs softly]
[sobs softly]
This was hers... Hailey's.
Come on. Let's go find her.
Why are you touching me?
-I've been waiting. -I'm not in the mood...
-What the fuck is that? -Cherry vape.
I'm quitting the old nic sticks. I was getting lines around my mouth.
Let's be real, hombre to hombre.
I get it. You hate the show.
But I just came from the morgue and this dead-son story is heating up.
And, bro, you are a big part of it. I am talking recurring guest.
I'm talking spin-off. Just, uh, sign this release
and you can leave all that mobster crap behind.
That... crap?
Cameras aren't rolling, dude. Celebrities are the new mobsters.
They make twice as much and nobody expects them to obey the law.
You got to give up this tired old idea of...
[gasps]
[whimpers]
Why would I want to leave this behind?
I love my work.
[sobs softly]
[screams]
[music: Frosty the Snowman by the Ronettes]
[chuckles]
Merry McCarthy.
This isn't where you're supposed to be. Blue isn't going to be happy.
Don't you know... that curiosity killed the cat?
Here, pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy.
[tires screech]
[engine putts and stops]
[Chris] Why'd we stop?
[door opens and closes]
[banging]
Come, Dancer. Come. Come on.
Come, Dasher, yes. Come, Prancer and Vixen. [laughs]
On Comet and Cupid and Donner and...
I know who's naughty and who's nice and you are way too nice to go in there.
[pants] You want to stay with me, don't you, with my other nice kids? You want?
[door bangs]
[Happy] 6538 Rose Drive! 6536 Rose Drive!
Oh, look! 6534! We're almost home!
You're almost home.
I haven't seen Amanda in ten years.
Maybe this is a bad idea.
We've been to a place where girls slide up and down poles
in their birthday suits, where a teddy bear plays with pee-pees,
a restaurant that forgot to cook the fish and a few places
I'm too shy to even talk about and you think this is a bad idea?
Amanda and I didn't exactly leave on the best of terms.
Come on, Nick! You're a super cop who knows the Big Apple better than anybody.
She's a super mom who knows Hailey better than anybody.
We can't lose!
Push it. Push the bell! Come on. Push it, Nick. Push the bell!
Give me a minute, will you?
What's the matter, Nick?
I've seen this look before, on Hailey's face,
right before riding the pirate ship at the carnival.
-Are... are you scared? -God, I hate you.
Oh, you are.
Okay, you've kicked in the doors of the baddest baddies in the Big Apple.
Quit calling it that. No one who lives in New York calls it the Big Apple.
I'm not from New York, Nick.
I'm from Zork, the capital of Cupcake Kingdom.
-I'm going to say it again, I hate you. -Okay, Amanda is the kindest,
happiest, most understanding, sweetest-smelling lady...
-Fine. -...in the whole wide world.
-Amanda! -Shh!
Don't worry, partner. She's going to be so happy to see you.
Hey, Amanda.
Any more bold predictions, Nostradamus?
Does it work?
[rattle of wheels]
[Smoothie] Sit up straight. Eat your vegetables.
Put down that smartphone or tablet.
The common refrain of the typical American parent.
Does it sound familiar to you?
No.
Of course it does.
But did you listen? No, you didn't. And now here we are.
Starting today, your lives will change in ways you could never imagine.
There will be moments when you wonder what you have done to deserve this.
I'm sure you all feel you've been good little boys and girls,
but until now, you have not known the meaning
of true discipline... of true obedience.
Your parents were lax with you, lax and careless.
You have gotten away with murder, haven't you,
my little contraceptive mishaps?
It's a rhetorical question.
Yours is a generation without respect or responsibility...
...an irrelevant, fidgety generation.
You've been medicated, but never taught how to properly behave.
In fact, I have never seen a room of young faces
in such dire need of correction.
Perhaps that's why your careless parents have delivered you... to me.
[screams]
That's a really nice pillow... and place.
I mean, this is some legit construction here.
Old school, nice flooring and the oak trim,
I mean, uh, it's not that sheetrock, plywood crap.
Bet it does a decent job keeping the winter away.
-I'm not a homesteader, Nick. -I know.
-It's a rental. -Yeah, just saying that you've done good.
Without you.
[sighs] Words are hard to find.
Trying to understand what's yours, what's mine,
we find ourselves in this moment together.
[inhales] Knowing in our heart what needs to be said is really just in our eyes.
-You are unbelievable. -What?
-That's from our wedding song. -I don't...
It's... I don't think so.
Why are you here?
-Hailey. -Merry told you.
From September.
-She doesn't look like me. -She's yours.
That's not what I meant.
The eyes.
[inhales and grunts]
You being pregnant and not telling me? You know, I get it.
Hailey being born, leaving me out of it, I...
I... I guess I get that, too.
But goddamn it, Amanda, when they took her, you go to Merry?
That's right, I did, looking for you.
Can you imagine how humiliating that was for me?
[grunts]
And where were you? Faded, probably.
-Pills? -Uh...
-Coke? -I don't...
Booze? Maybe all of the above.
Or maybe, just maybe, putting a bullet in some poor bastard for a little cash.
That's right. I hear things, things that I didn't want to believe,
but looking at you now...
She's my daughter.
I've done everything I could in the last ten years
to keep her from being your daughter.
-[Amanda] That's how I want to keep it. -[Sax] She didn't have a say in it.
-It's my job to keep her safe. -[Sax] Says who?
-That means keeping you out of our lives. -[Sax] But she's not safe.
[Amanda] Oh, is that my fault? Is that why you're saying now?
Think about it, Nicky. Look at the dumpster fire that your life has become
and ask yourself how can I rely on you, how can anyone could.
[Sax] I'm just trying to protect her.
[Amanda] That's what you think? Destroying lives and abandoning people?
All you do is bring chaos and violence and destruction to everything you touch.
That's a bit of an exaggeration.
[grunts]
[music: Sleigh Ride by the Ronettes]
[grunts and groans]
[squelching]
[yelling]
[Amanda screams and man groans]
[yells]
[grunts and groans]
[Amanda screams and yells]
Ax and you shall receive.
[groans]
-[sighs] What the hell did I do that for? -[grunting]
No! No! Nick! Not here, please!
[grunts]
This is Hailey's special place.
No! Not Hailey's blankey!
[roars and groans]
[squelching]
[grunts]
Oh, first place.
[pants]
I know this Puerto Rican fella in my building.
He can really do wonders with all the stains.
-Get out. -Let me help, Amanda.
-[man] 911. What's your emergency? -Please, let me help.
-[man] Hello? -Please.
-Get out of our house. -Hello? Is anyone there?
If this is a non-emergency, call the non-emergency number.
What's the location?
Is anyone there?
[bleeping]
[sighs]
[door closes]
[Amanda] How the hell did this happen?
Oh, I remember a trampoline.
[both groan softly]
[Amanda] Was there a Slip 'N Slide?
[sighs]
[Sax pants and Amanda groans]
Too much sun, too soon, too early, too much. [inhales]
Mm. Something's burning.
Someone broke our window.
[grunts]
I think I know what broke our window.
Oh, master detective.
I have a great idea. Sleep, Bloodies, do it all over again.
Mm. Sleep, yes. Bloodies... maybe.
-We're going to look back fondly on... -On a complete blank.
[Sax chuckles]
You're going to miss it when it's gone.
[phone bleeps]
-Eight voicemails? Overkill? -You're here, aren't you?
Pick up the phone next time, save us trouble.
-I was indisposed. -Yeah. We heard.
I get that getting jerked around by Internal Affairs
is a part of my job description,
-but can we get to the fucking point? -[whistles] The language.
-Suck your captain's dick with that mouth? -What do you think your job is?
"Working in partnership with the community to enforce the law..."
Homicide. You work homicide.
-How's the Scaramucci investigation going? -It's ongoing.
Ongoing? You know who fucking did it.
-Nick Sax. -That's who you look for.
Instead you demoted yourself to kiddie kidnappings.
Missing Persons, great band in the '80s, not your department.
Nothing to say?
What are words for, when no one listens anymore?
McCarthy... this insubordinate routine can work really badly against you.
-You remember what happened to Sax? -Yeah.
I remember what you two did to him.
Come on. If ever there was an architect of his own demise, it was Nick Sax.
-Dude was a walking downward spiral. -Only a matter of time.
I guess when you look at it like that,
what's a little planted evidence to help things along?
You want us to get to the fucking point? So, here it is.
This whole kidnapping angle... you want to steer wide clear of that.
Sometimes kids go missing.
It's a tragedy.
Sometimes we find them.
Sometimes we don't.
You understand, McCarthy? Sometimes they just stay missing.
So, this is a message...
...from Blue?
Blue? Who's that? You know who she's talking about, Hubble?
Mm.
Without getting too graphic, how the hell do you bitches sleep at night?
Not on our fathers' graves.
That is him on the wall, isn't it? Behind you?
-[Ace] Wall of heroes. -He was a good cop, McCarthy.
Anyway, that's what I hear. Cut down in the line of duty.
Mm, makes you sick, doesn't it?
-[Ace ] He must've been so proud of you. -Yeah, I bet he was and I bet
I know what he would tell you right now.
He would tell you to stay off of that wall. Do what you have to do.
Do whatever you have to do... but stay off that wall.
[Smoothie] One by one.
Single file.
Mm, delicious.
Oh. No, no. No fattening up for you. Go, sit.
Aren't you lucky?
Some of us were born with refined-sugar allergies.
No sprinkles or frosting on Christmas.
Just hives and running sores.
What's the matter?
I'm not hungry.
Mm. Perhaps you once had a piece of cake that didn't agree with you.
Go on. Eat it! It's good.
I don't think Happy and your dad are coming.
Lend a helping hand, the world wipes its ass with it.
She doesn't want my help... It's half-off-sushi Saturday
at a very adequate strip joint not far from here.
-I can practically smell the spicy tuna. -I guess Amanda was hard on you.
But mommies can have bad days, too. Anybody can!
-Pft! What's the matter with you? -What do you... [gasps]
You didn't tell me you shed! I don't like animals that shed.
Uh, look, I don't blame you for feeling sad.
If I were you, I'd want to just, poof, disappear.
-At least for a little while. -Why not forever?
Whenever I'm feeling down I go back to basics.
I think of ways to help Hailey! That's why I became an imaginary friend.
The best way to forget about your problems is to do something nice for someone else.
That's why Christmas is so awesome sauce, Nick,
everyone full of holiday spirit and goodwill toward their fellow man.
That holly, jolly time of year when people can pack up their troubles
in an old doggie-poop bag and really be their truest self.
Their true self? Really?
-Is that what you think? -Well, yeah.
-Good luck with that. I'm out of here. -Not so fast, Nick.
I think someone forgot his Christmas spirit.
-What've I told you? -Fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
That's right, and when I coined that phrase, it changed my life.
God, what a year we've had, huh? So many ups and downs.
I've never been more in love.
No peeking!
Aw! You see, Nick? You see? The spirit of Christmas is everywhere!
[man] Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for any inconvenience.
All Queens-bound trains have been delayed indefinitely.
-Oh, this city never disappoints. -Is a show about to start?
Oh, yeah, you just watch.
All it takes is a little inconvenience and then you start to see 'em.
-See who? -Their true selves.
Go on, Tinkerbell. Take a look, a little lap around. See how much humanity you find
when the A train ain't running on time.
-[man] Serious? -Eh, come on.
[angry muttering]
The hell do I pay taxes for? Oh, I forgot. It's up to the ass-kickers in this world
to subsidize handouts for the deadbeats.
-What area code's 602? -Ugh, new client.
I didn't ask who it was. I asked what area code it is.
-You stole it? -Gee-wiz.
The old five-finger discount!
Nick! Uh, what are you doing? Get off the tracks!
Mm! [sniffs] Can you smell that?
-[angry muttering] -All the Christmas spirit in the air?
You could practically choke on it.
Scratch the surface and there you have it,
our true selves, people hiding behind their bright,
colorful wrappings of bullshit, hoping that it will hide
what they really are deep down inside, underneath it all...
empty boxes of broken toys.
[man] We apologize for any inconvenience.
The next Queens-bound train will arrive in two minutes.
[grunts]
-Uh, Nick, the train is coming. -Yep.
Yeah, so, why don't you get off the tracks?
Nope. I'm going to teach you a lesson, my little blue bastard.
Something you won't forget. I'm going to lie on these tracks.
I'm going to let that train run me right over and I guarantee you,
not one S.O.B. on that whole platform will lift a finger to help me.
-Nick, no! -[laughs]
Help! Help! Help!
[grunts] Mom!
-[Happy] Someone, help! -You drove me to it!
-Your man whore can wait! -Dump your career in a box.
-Merry Christmas! -[Happy] Help! Please!
Help!
All right, Nick, get up, you win!
-How's it looking up there? -Awful. You made your point!
-Not until I give these walls a paint job. -But, Nick! What about Hailey?
Hailey. Hailey? Don't you try and put this on me!
You were the one with her when she was kidnapped! What have you done?
I found you.
Yeah, well, how's that working out for you?
You're right, Nick. This is your kind of world.
Not a world for soft things, like me, like Hailey.
You've opened my eyes to stuff I never wanted to see.
But I won't watch you do this.
If you want me to go, fine. I'll... I'll disappear.
Music to my ears. Bye-bye.
All right, then. [sniffles] Goodbye, partner.
[panicked grunting and train's klaxon blares]
[groans]
Oh, come on, now, really?
[grunts and train's klaxon blares]
[grunts]
-[man] A homeless dude had a heart attack! -[woman 1] Anyone know C.P.R.?
[woman 2] Someone call 911!
[inhales deeply and grunts]
Get the hell off me.
-[excited chattering] -[Sax groans] I...
I'm fine, I'm fine.
Get your hands off me, Jesus.
-You really should be in a hospital. -Oh, shut up!
-We saved him! It's a Christmas miracle! -[cheering]
-[Assunta] Feel it. Isabella? -Si?
What do you think we're doing?
We're making Mikey's favorite meatballs and sauce,
-just like you said. -No.
You are a mother calling for the soul of your son.
And how are you going to get him back?
Here! Here! Feel it!
-Feel it! -Okay, okay.
Feel it!
-Bene. Isabella? -Hmm?
What's the most important ingredient in that sauce?
Oh, garlic.
No, a mother's soul, a mother's love.
Only through a mother's love,
the aroma of this flesh can waft to the spirit world
and would free Mikey of his purgatories.
That and a few drops of my menstrual blood.
-Oh, yeah? -[gagging]
Woo, woo, woo. Woo, woo, woo, woo.
-[heavy breathing] -[Anna-Theresa] I threw up in my mouth.
[distant chattering]
[chattering on police radio]
You told him.
When I found Sax, he was already looking for her.
We missed Hailey by minutes.
He was there? With you?
Amanda, you're going to have to lay low for a while.
-Excuse me? -This thing, it's bigger than I thought.
I'm not sure how deep it goes, but there are powerful people involved,
people who will not think twice
-about making you disappear. -Disappear?
Without Hailey there is nothing left of me to disappear.
[background chattering]
It is what it is. I've already overstepped by involving you.
So, you're asking me to do what exactly? Sit here quietly, waiting for a knock
on my front door telling me she's dead?
It's not easy, but seven other sets of parents are doing the exact same thing.
Please let me handle it.
You're not handling anything.
You're afraid.
I threw the wrong person out of my house.
Amanda.
[chattering on police radio]
All right, come on back, Happy. Come on, Hap.
All right, enough with the drama. Come on back.
[woman] Bye, guys. See you tomorrow.
[pants]
You were right, all right? Well, you know, for the most part.
I mean, not all people are bad.
They're just so goddamned annoying most of the time.
So, come on.
Hap! Happy?
Ah, shit. I killed my kid's imaginary friend.
No Nutcracker for me this year.
-Chicken and lamb combo, extra onions. -Need five minutes.
-White sauce? Hot sauce? -Give him both. It's Christmas.
[grunts]
♪ I'll have a blue Christmas ♪
♪ Without you ♪
-♪ I'll be so blue... ♪ -Wait a minute.
-♪Just thinking about you ♪ -That song.
[man whistles Blue Christmas]
-Really into Christmas, ain't you? -Happiest time of the year.
Oh, good. You two have met. We can get right down to tomorrow night's business.
[sniffs and snorts]
-Yeah, no, I don't think so. -Beg your pardon?
I ain't working with Kris Kringle. As a guideline, I prefer to work alone,
but when an obvious total psychopath is involved... uh... no.
Don't be silly, Nick.
This is one of my best men. You two are going to get along like a pair of tits.
Non-negotiable.
Well, deck the halls with boughs of holy shit,
I knew that asshole looked familiar!
That means...
Blue.
He's been behind it the whole time.
Blue!
Blue?
Mikey?
[rubbing]
Shit's just getting weirder and weirder.
[music: Father Christmas, Do Not Touch Me by The Goodies]